The Power of Two
by CertifiedGeek
Summary: <html><head></head>O'Neill and Carter are separated from SG1 during an attack off world. A/N: Following some constructive criticisms I have re-written the ending. This story is now complete.</html>
1. Chapter 1

A/N: My first SG-1 FanFic. Please be kind and constructive if you chose to comment :)

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><p>She was on fire. The blast from the attacking fighters had set the archaic village a blaze with wooden buildings crumpling and smouldering under the burning thatch. Carter saw the sleeve of her fatigues catch light as her fingers groped through the rubble for the local woman, Shana, with whom she had been speaking when the blast hit.<p>

It was a moonless night with low clouds filling the air with a fine mist. Against the dark sky the fires stood out like beacons, their orange glow signalling the precise location of the small community to the 4 death gliders that swooped hungrily overhead. The mist and lack of air movement allowed the smoke to hang in the atmosphere in apparent suspended animation. Ash, burning embers and noxious fumes were adding to the panic of the villagers and hampering SG1's attempts to evacuate the colony.

Feeling fabric with her fingertips, and ignoring the heat that was spreading rapidly up her arm, Carter threw her body to the floor and thrust her other hand into the burning woodpile. Gripping the other woman's clothes and hauling with every muscle in her body she felt Shana's slight form move minutely under the weight of the fallen timber.

Flames singed her hair, curling the edges of her blonde locks. The smell was acrid, dangerous, and instantly lost in the billowing clouds of smoke emanating from a stricken death glider as it fell out of the sky. The vibrations of its collision with the ground shook the remaining buildings sending more burning embers into the air and timbers to the floor. Carter knew she had lost her eyebrows already and that it was a matter of seconds before she would have to save or sacrifice either herself or the woman buried in the burning ruins of her former home.

"Colonel!"

Smoke choked her lungs and the shout became little more than a cough. She cursed, mentally, her inability to summon aid and struggled to draw in another breath as spasms in her chest brought forth a fit of choking.

Somewhere above another death glider sent a cascade of blasts through the village. People screamed, Teal'c's staff weapon discharged a handful of times. Another building collapsed in slow motion, first the roof tumbled in burning segments, then the door frame and walls.

"Daniel, dial her up!" O'Neill's voiced bellowed in the distance, "Teal'c, get everyone the hell out of here!"

Carter tucked her chin down to her chest and sucked in as much smoke free air as she could. The door frame above her cracked loudly under the strain and inch long splinters launched themselves into her shoulders and the soft skin at the back of her neck. Carter felt blood begin to trickle across her collar bone.

This was her last chance.

Tightening her grip on the woman's clothes Carter dragged herself to her knees. The major heaved Shana's limp body clear of the well ignited wood pile expelling the long held breath with the exertion.

The event horizon the stargate fired brilliant blue light across the smoke filled darkness. Groups of villagers stumbled, terrified, towards the great circle of light through which they had been instructed to pass. Mothers carried children, young men steadied grandparents and the wounded were dragged by any able bodied person up the steps and through the stargate to safety.

Carter's vision blurred with the heat of the fire. Her lungs fought for air, and, almost as an observer of her own body, she realised her uniform was now burning with vicious sincerity. Now kneeling on the floor the lack of oxygen in her body prevented her from making any useful movements. Dragging in a breath only filled her lungs with more smoke and wheezing and choking she fought desperately for air.

O'Neill stood at the steps of the stargate, his gun pointing at the sky hoping for a lucky shot at the oncoming gliders. He was yelling above the sound of the approaching fighters, instructing Teal'c to guard the gate. He was one team member down and he couldn't see her in the chaos.

"Daniel," he shouted in Jackson's ear as he grabbed the other man by the shoulder, "Where's Carter?"

Jackson shook his head, "I haven't seen her since the attack started. She was with Shana on the street behind the market."

"Get everyone through the gate, "O'Neill instructed, "I am going to find Carter."

Teal'c jogged over to their position, his eyes on the sky, "We will be unable to protect the stargate for much longer O'Neill. We must leave imminently."

O'Neill nodded his understanding, "Get the last of these villagers through and leave. Do not wait for me and Carter. We will dial back in when it is safe to do so. I don't want death glider zap rays tearing up the gate room. Am I clear?"

Jackson looked ready to argue but saw the reasoning was sound. Teal'c simply nodded his acknowledgement.

"Good luck, O'Neill," the jaffa said as his colonel began a steady jog towards what remained of the village.

The village was now burning in almost every quarter, the houses falling in domino fashion lighting their neighbours until most of the village was either ash or in flame. O'Neill had seen this before and it chilled him to the bone. He found himself grateful that the Goa'uld had not seen the need to invent napalm.

Overhead the death glider flights had become less frequent, their energies now focused on the gate and the escaping villagers. O'Neill heard the blast of a staff weapon and felt the thud of another glider hitting the ground. That was two for Teal'c. Pretty good going under the circumstances. He heard the sound of the stargate close and suddenly the dark was more intense, only the orange fires illuminated the night sky.

As he rounded the corner of the market place O'Neill could see two figures outside the remnants of a burning house. One laid prone of the ground the other, Carter, was on her knees, combat fatigues on fire. He increased his pace, running swiftly through the shadows. Tackling Carter to the ground, smothering the flames with his own body in one move he rolled them both into the relative shelter of a lone, unaffected building. Quickly checking the fire was out O'Neill released his Major from his grasp lifting himself clear of her smouldering uniform. Beneath him she heaved in a difficult breath and choked on the exhale.

Helping her to sit up he wrapped an arm around her and held her firmly against him. Her eyes were glazed and unfocused for a long moment as she coughed violently.

"Come on, Carter," O'Neill said reassuringly, "Slow breaths, nice and steady."

She nodded curtly and sucked in another lung of clearer air with another bout of choking to follow it. O'Neill reached for his canteen and pressed it to her lips gently, helping her hold it still enough to drink. The next breath was easier and she found enough voice to speak.

"Shana?"

O'Neill cast a grave eye towards the motionless body of the petite local woman. A pool of dark blood had gather around her head.

"Doesn't look good from here," he said simply.

From across the market place came the sound of jaffa boots stomping uniformly towards their location. Time was not on their side.

"We need to get out of here," O'Neill announced sharply, "Can you stand?"

Unsure of the answer herself Carter nodded uncertainly and was grateful for O'Neill's less than gentle assistance as he lifted her almost completely from the floor into an upright position. Wavering for a moment Carter held on to his arm tightly, suddenly aware of an incredibly uncomfortable tightness in the skin on her hand. There was not, however, time to evaluate the situation. An immediate exit was called for.

Staggering, side by side, passed Shana; O'Neill stooped to check on the local woman. Face down on the ground he could clearly see the back of her skull was crushed, probably from a falling timber. Slipping his fingers onto her neck he felt for a pulse. Mercifully there was none. He gave Carter a short shake of the head and they moved on.

There was little point staying in the village, the remaining building could be searched in a matter of moments, and there was precious little natural coverage nearby, the villagers felling trees to make their homes and cultivate fields. O'Neill recalled a local man telling Daniel of a chamber behind the waterfall which was 2 miles downstream. Hoping the path to it would be negotiable in their current state O'Neill led the way half carrying Carter as she stumbled clumsily over burning debris. With no moon and a favourable wind they would be hidden before dawn and that would have to do for now.

Navigation was one of O'Neill's strengths, but navigating in the pitch black, without a compass or map, and with no knowledge of the landscape or the stars above, was spectacularly difficult. When they had moved far enough from the village to enter complete darkness the pair had stopped for a moment, Carter sinking to her knees and coughing violently, trying to muffle the sound as best she was able. O'Neill crouched down beside her rubbing her back supportively. Checking her belt O'Neill located Carter's own canteens and noted that they were heavy. A good sign. She was not wearing her tactical backpack. His kit bag contained sufficient emergency rations for a couple of days but after that they would have difficulties, but nothing in comparison with being captured by the Goa'uld.

The villager had spoken of 'fertile slopes' leading down to the 'great river of the gods'. Beneath their feet the land we certainly sloping gently downwards and O'Neill thought he could hear the rush of water in the distance. In any case they seemed to be following a path, the ground was reasonably even under foot but if they strayed too far left or right they tripped over furrowed land. O'Neill was keeping his fingers crossed that they weren't leaving a trail behind them. At least he couldn't hear the sound of anyone following them. Another good sign.

Standing he helped Carter back up to her feet and they moved slowly through the darkness, stopping every 100 paces to listen. At 1000 steps they stopped to rest, it was quite clear now that they were not being pursued. Carter's breathing was ragged and O'Neill's shoulder was beginning to ache from keeping the major upright most of the time.

"Where are we headed, sir?" Carter rasped.

"Waterfall, about another mile and a half if we are going in the right direction." He felt her nod. "I figure we have about 6 hours before first light. I want us tucked up and secure before then. We can wait them out. I don't think the Goa'uld know we are still here so they will probably take their creepy snake incubators and vamoose when then realise there's nothing of interest here for them."

They found the river another 1000 steps further on. In the darkness it was impossible to gauge the width or depth but with its roar and the air full of cool spray both imagined a raging watercourse with rapids, rocks, and all sorts of treacherous obstacles.

"Upstream or downstream?" Carter shouted to make herself heard over the din.

"Down," he yelled back, "The path is too slippery, we are going to have to wait for dawn."

"Do you think we can risk a torch?"

O'Neill considered the option. They had been travelling downhill with not apparent followers. If the Goa'uld weren't looking for them a torch at ground level might be okay. Slinging his backpack on the grassy bank he groped in an outer pocket of his bag until he found a small head torch. Doubling the headband and shoving his boot through the ring of elastic he pulled his backpack back on and turned down stream. The small headlamp illuminated the ground like a beacon. O'Neill and Carter held their breaths for a second, anticipating a sudden attack from stealthy jaffa. When no attack came both sighed audibly and O'Neill examined the path before them.

"Okay, Carter, let's give this a try. Stay close on my six. We have rocks and mud ahead of us but I can see the top of the waterfall." O'Neill took a step forward before adding, "Don't fall in."


	2. Chapter 2

I guess this is turning into a three parter after all...

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><p>Part 2<p>

By the time they had fought their way to the base of the waterfall, including two near misses as they had each lost their footing and slipped perilously close the edge on the steep path down, they were soaked to the skin and exhausted. The path behind the water was almost impossible to navigate in the dark, the torch succumbing to the wet after O'Neill had landed in a deep puddle. Staggering in to the cavern they fell in a heap on the stone floor leaning against one another for comfort and security.

"You alright, Carter?" O'Neill asked when he mustered sufficient breath.

"In one piece, sir," she replied painfully feeling the last of the adrenalin run out of her system. In reality her chest ached, her arms were painful and the skin on her hands hurt so badly she could barely move her fingers. Now that they were relatively safe she knew it was important to assess the damage and see how much trouble she was actually in.

"Do you have another flashlight?" she asked.

There were sounds of rummaging and suddenly the cavern was filled with a bright white glow. Both shielded their eyes until they could see properly again.

To their surprise the cavern was deep, going back far enough to get out of the waterfall's spray and to a place where they could hear each other without shouting. O'Neill picked up his pack in his spare hand and dragged it to the back of the cave, returning to help Carter make the same trip. In the glow of the flashlight he was able to see his major's soot covered face, missing eyebrows, and singed hair. As his eyes moved over her he realised her sleeves were scorched, through to the skin in some places. The backs of her hands were red, oozing and swollen. Between her fingers looked pink and sore but not burned to the same extent.

Carter followed his gaze and felt the blood run from her face. Despite the grime over her skin O'Neill, too, recognised her sudden pallor and lowered Carter to the ground gently. Sitting beside her, one arm wrapped around her back, he used his other hand to locate the first aid kit he carried in his backpack.

"Take it easy, Carter," he said quietly, "It's not so bad. You're going to be fine. I have a first aid kit in here somewhere. We'll get you patched up."

"Yes, sir, sorry, sir," she whispered, forcing a smile and swallowing the bile in her throat.

Exhausted, soaking, and injured Carter realised she had started to shiver involuntarily and she hugged he knees to her chest, looping her arms around her shins in a desperate attempt to preserve some heat. Looking across at O'Neill she could see he was equally sodden, tired and starting to shiver. She drew a deep breath, calming her anxieties, and let it out a little shakily with a few coughs. Forcing another long breath in she pulled herself together and began to assess the situation.

Whilst her kit bag was lost her utility vest contained energy bars, a small first aid kit, fire lighters, her radio, and a host of other useful survival equipment. Granted she had no dry clothes but the days had been bordering on hot on this planet and if they could make it until morning the sun would remedy that problem. They had O'Neill's kit bag which was guaranteed to have ration packs, clothes, his sleeping bag, space blankets, at least one bivvy bag, a stove, soup, and probably chocolate, all of which sounded wonderful at that moment. They had secured shelter, were, they thought, undetected by the enemy, and the rest of SG-1 knew where they were, so rescue was a strong possibility.

The immediate problem was warmth and getting something on her burns. O'Neill had produced his first aid kit and was lining up dressings and burn gel on his kit bag ready for use. On the floor were two rolls of material which Carter realised were two sets of mostly dry clothes.

"You certainly know how to pack a kit bag," Carter smiled up at him, the light of her smile reaching her eyes this time, "Don't suppose you have any candy in there do you?"

"There's shortcake. But only when we're dry and your hands are too covered in burn gel to be able to eat it," he teased with a grin.

Without another word he helped Carter remove her vest, her fingers unable to unfasten the clips. Professionalism took firm control as the colonel then unzipped her jacket and carefully helped her remove it. Getting the material over her hands was going to be impossible but as she was going to need the jacket for warmth when it was dry O'Neill took his knife and sliced each sleeve from wrist to elbow. Gently prying the away the burnt remnants of material from small burns on her arms he tried to ignore the look on Carter's face as she winced with pain.

Survival made it essential to shed all wet clothing so moving behind the major to allow for privacy he helped her strip bare and using a small micro-absorbent towel rubbed her back to stimulate the blood flow. Carter made a passing effort at drying her front but her grip was poor. O'Neill liberated one of his t-shirts from the pile on the floor and helped her struggle into it. He noticed, approvingly, that Carter was shivering a little less now. Removing trousers and pants was managed with similar decorum and Carter was soon sat on the floor of the cave dressed in the colonel's apparel. With his injured major now dry and warming up O'Neill quickly stripped himself, hurrying to cover up his cold skin which was covered in goose flesh. The colonel produced two foil blankets and draped one around Carter's shoulders, using the other for himself.

"Thank you, sir," Carter said appreciatively as he carefully tended to her burnt hands and arms. She watched, impressed by his proficiency as he spread the salve gently over every patch of red and swollen skin and wrapped her hands with strips of burn dressing.

O'Neill shrugged and looked up from what he was doing briefly, "How the hell did you end up like this anyway?"

She sighed a little, "Trying to rescue Shana. I didn't realise she was already dead."

"No pulling people from burning buildings in future, do you hear me, Major?"

"No, sir," she replied. The burn gel had ease the pain in her hands considerably and she was beginning to feel almost comfortable. "How many hours do you think we have before dawn?"

"I estimate three or four, enough for us to get a little rest. We need to be out of here in the next 12 hours or Doc Fraiser is going to skin me alive for my lousy dressings."

Carter laughed a little and yawned, "You'll get no arguments for me on that."

"Good," he said, and gestured to the sleeping bag laid out on the stone floor, "Now get some rest. I'll take first watch."


	3. Chapter 3

Apologies for the delay. I have "man-flu", which is impressive for a woman I think. This isn't finished yet so those who asked for a longer story, consider your wish granted. Enjoy.

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><p>Part 3<p>

First light came earlier than anticipated the sun rising barely more than an hour after Carter had fallen asleep. With the warm rays shining through the water that poured over the front of the cavern the space they occupied became marginally more comfortable. For a little while the colonel enjoyed watching rainbows form in the spray, plotting their course as the sun rose higher. Hearing Carter stir he stood up and pulled a small stove from his kit bag and began boiling water. Soup for breakfast wasn't high on his list of things to try, but it would be warm and tasty. He mulled the thought over for a moment. No, not tasty, just warm.

"What happened to second watch?," Carter asked as she blinked sleep from her eyes.

"The sun came up. O'Neill answered, stirring powdered soup mix into pot, "You've only been asleep about an hour thirty."

Carter looked surprised. It was no wonder she felt exhausted still, or why O'Neill looked grey in the bright sunlight. Sitting up proved a difficult position to negotiate with bandaged hands and Carter struggled to free herself from the sleeping bag, eventually worming her way out of it until she was lying on the hard floor. Unaware of the colonel's watchful eyes she managed to upright herself using her legs and stomach muscles, feeling every sinew tug just sufficiently enough to remind her of the previous nights difficulties. Wheezing already in the cool morning air changing position made her cough until her lungs finally relented and breathing became normal again.

"I sound like my great uncle," Carter mused quietly, "He smoked about 60 a day for most of his life."

O'Neill poured the soup into a mug and set the pot on the side. Whilst the sun had burnt off the worst of the cold in the cavern it was far from warm. Still wrapped in the foil blanket he shivered a little and swapped his position by the stove for one next to Carter. Carter reached for the sleeping bag and with her bandaged fingers unable to open the fastening she resorted to clumsily draping the bag over them both. Placing the mug of soup on the floor O'Neill finished off what Carter had started, unzipping the envelope until it opened almost flat and then re-arranging it in a more functional way around them. Side by side, sharing body heat and united in their exhaustion Carter rested her head on his shoulder, and he rested his head on hers. They sat quietly for a while, the only sounds the pouring of the waterfall and the clinking of the metal spoon as O'Neill idly stired the contents of the mug.

"What flavour?" Carter asked a few minutes later, her stomach grumbling now the aroma of dried soup had filled the cavern.

"Chicken and mushroom," he said, and offered her the mug, "Ladies first."

Carter grimaced, "So egg and bacon isn't on offer?"

"Fresh out," his tired face twisted into a small smile.

Carter sipped the hot liquid tentatively. It might have been chicken and mushroom, but it could just as easily have been vegetable. As usual the military food pack was of undefinable taste. They shared the mug in the well-established ritual of turn taking, it was not the first time they had been a pack short and in a similar situation, and they both knew it would not be the last. The bandages on Carter's hands made it difficult to grasp the tin mug but she managed without grimacing at the discomfort the action caused. Sitting with his shoulder touching hers O'Neill felt the tension in her body as she forced herself not to give in to the pain.

"I'm going to check out the village," O'Neill said when they had finished the soup, "I wanna see if the snake-heads are still poking around. "

"We should both go, sir."

O'Neill looked at her quizzically, "No, Carter, we shouldn't. If I get caught I can convince them I was alone and you will be able to raise the alarm when they take off through the stargate. Let's face it, they aren't going to kill me on sight. Apparently I am a man of some standing in Goa'uld circles, the creepy little critters want to torture me before they'll let me die. Anyway, their egos are so big they can't resist showing off and dragging everything out. They are usually so busy being omnipotent tyrants they forget what ordinary humans can do. That will buy you enough time to raise the alarm and get Hammond to send a bunch of SG teams out on a rescue. If they capture us both then who's coming after us?"

Carter opened her mouth to speak but was silenced by the colonel's raised hand.

"I don't want to hear it, Major. You are staying here and that is an order. I will be back within two hours. If I'm not you have enough supplies there to buy you a few days, by then they will have gated off this world and …"

"Sir, if you are captured and taken off world how are we going to know where to look for you?"

"I admit, that's not the best part of the plan… but we've found smaller needles in bigger haystacks."

There was little room for argument and Carter knew it. She could not fight, could not use her own gun, and wasn't fit to run very far without collapsing on the floor coughing her lungs up. There was every possibility that the Goa'uld had withdrawn from this world after destroying the village, there was nothing of strategic value in the immediate vicinity and they had no experience of the Goa'uld venturing far from the stargate to exploit areas further afield. They were "gods" after all. Current thinking was that the Goa'uld wouldn't want their subjects to know they couldn't just magic their way half the way around a world so they stuck close to the stargate at all times.

With no further argument to be had O'Neill hauled himself up from the floor and checked his side arm, P90, ammunition and canteens. Carter's M9 was by his kit bag and he made sure she knew it was there, along with a supply of food and his extensive first aid materials. Checking the time and agreeing it was 5am back on earth, O'Neill made his was out of the cavern without looking back, unwilling to subject himself to the look of concern he knew nestled on Carter's face.

The ascent of the waterfall was easier in daylight than their nocturnal descent, but it was no less slippery. It was not long before O'Neill's BDU was soaked through again, the cold of the water penetrating his skin and seeping into his bones. Pressing on he checked his watch, it had taken 15 minutes to reach the head of the waterfall, and with an estimated three clicks to walk back to the village he would need to move swiftly.

His wet clothes leaving a distinct trail on the dusty path O'Neill crossed onto the farm land and wound his way up through rows of something that looked like maize, but with deep red kernels on stalks that stood, at most, 4 feet high. Zigzagging his way between the irregularly spaced rows he allowed himself a brief reminiscence of his youth, running through corn fields in Minnesota. He sure missed those days when he could run for hours without thinking about it. It was mornings like this one when his knees were stiff and he ached with the cold that O'Neill knew in his heart his days of front line duty were running out.

A noise up ahead stopped him in his tracks and he dropped to the floor, peering between the corn stalks to the crest of the hill where a group of jaffa stood taking orders from their commander. A particularly muscular band of men with the symbol of Moloc emblazoned on their foreheads the party numbered seven in total, including the leader who was barking orders loudly at his underlings. O'Neill winced and pressed himself closer to the earth, the guy in charge might have been speaking a different language but his tone of voice left no doubt in the colonel's mind that Moloc's troops were looking for them.

Sliding backwards until he was sure he was far enough beyond camber of the hill to risk a crouching run O'Neill cursed quietly to himself and scoured the vicinity for natural protection and alternative hiding places. As far as he could see there were no natural outcrops, or man-made defences, which would offer protection and the river appeared to curve away from the stargate failing to offer an alternative path to their only escape route. Behind him he heard the sound of running feet.

"Kree!"

The shout went up and O'Neill knew he had been spotted. Turning his P90 in the direction of the Imperial Guard the colonel let out a burst of fire taking one of the jaffa out instantly. Surprised by the attack the jaffa scattered, two staff weapons pointed in his direction and fired almost in unison. O'Neill threw himself into a diving roll to the right landing in a bed of rushes at the edge of the river feeling the blast intended for him hitting river's edge, spraying him with sand and stone. The river roared behind him running fast and deep to the waterfall a little less than a click away. There would be barely enough time to swim to the side before he went over the edge, but that was better than death by staff weapon.

Letting out a second round of fire in the direction of the jaffa O'Neill scrambled to his feet, battling against the mud that was sucking him to the floor. Taking his eye off his attackers for a fraction of a second the colonel prepared to throw himself to the mercy of the river, bending his knees and jumping with all his strength. The mud, however, refused to yield and the colonel felt his knee dislocate and collapse under him throwing him into the bank of the river. Yelling out in pain, the last thing O'Neill saw was the reverse end of the staff weapon hitting him hard between his eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4

Consciousness returned as an unwelcome event some time later. Pain throbbed through his skull, down his face and a sticky, bloody mass at the bridge of his nose sent a sharp warning of 'do not touch' when carelessly explored by his clumsy, insensitive, fingers. Swearing he tried to gain his bearings only to awaken the agony of his dislocated knee as he tried to kneel. A movement to his side and a gentle voice eased his concern momentarily.

"Carter?" he croaked, his eyes trying to make out the shadow in the darkness.

"Yes, sir," she replied, placing her hand softly on his shoulder and easing him back to the floor.

"Whatcha doin' here?" he slurred, fighting the nausea generated by his pounding head.

"The Goa'uld found me sir, about an hour after you left. I got the impression they knew where to look, there was a terrified kid from the village with them…" her voice trailed off and she took an unsteady breath, "The Imperial Guard killed her as soon as they had me."

O'Neill fumbled, blindly, for her hand and gave it a careful squeeze, "Nothing you could do, Carter."

He felt rather than saw her nod.

"We were ringed up into a ship of some sort," Carter said more certainly, "You've been unconscious for about two hours. I don't think we have left orbit, at least I haven't felt the ship move, and we seem to be in a cell of some kind. No-one has been in or out since they put us here. I've done the best I can with your knee, the patella is back in place but it's going to hurt like crazy until Janet can do something better to support it..."she paused and he felt her bandaged hand brush his hair very briefly, "How's the head?"

"Excellent," he drawled sarcastically, "I can't see anything more than shadows and I think my nose is probably embedded in my brain tissue. Am I close?"

Despite herself Carter smiled, "Your nose is certainly broken, and you have two huge black eyes which, combined with the half-light in here, is probably why you can't see very much right now. I can try and clean up the blood but I can't promise to be gentle."

O'Neill groaned and let his head rock back onto the floor, "I think I am going to pass out again, Carter. Clean it up while I'm out of it, will ya?"

"Yes, sir," she said, watching as the slits of the colonel's eyes shut completely and his breathing became easier.

O'Neill's battle with consciousness continued for several more hours, with varying degrees of lucidity during each period of wakefulness. When he finally came too properly he found himself leaning against Carter, his head on her shoulder, her arm around him in a mixture of protectiveness and warmth. The Goa'uld had dropped the temperature in the cell to somewhere below freezing, he thought, as small ice crystals had begun to form in the moisture on the cell walls. The lights were on full too, he noted, as he opened the slits of his eyes his vision eventually focussing on Carter's exhausted, sleeping, face.

Without moving he inspected the sensations of his body. Cold was the first one, which was decidedly preferable to pain, which was the second prominent sensation. His right knee ached but not unbearably so, and his face still throbbed, but with less urgency. He was grateful for small improvements. Flexing his fingers and toes he was pleased to realise everything was functioning reasonably well, and if he tried hard he could see everything in the circular room through the slits of his eyes, no visible door, walls of bright light, a high ceiling. Bottom line, there was no obvious means of escape.

Listening hard O'Neill recognised the profound silence of a room insulated from all other sound, such perfect nothingness could never be achieved without a lot of hard work. His own breath held the only other sound in the room was the inhalation and exhalation of his second in command, both actions catching in her chest and rattling her lungs. He frowned, concerned for Carter's health, and regretted the movement as wrinkling the skin above his eyes caused a stab of pain. He flinched and Carter woke instantly.

"It's alright, Carter," O'Neill rasped, he had not accounted for how dry his throat was.

Carter withdrew her arm from around him, both missing the contact immediately. She straightened herself and wriggled her stiff fingers carefully. The burn gel had long since worn off and the weeping of the wounds had begun to seep through the dressings. Around her knuckles, where she had forced them to bend to re-align O'Neill's kneecap, yellow stains were now evident. The colonel caught her hands, feeling the excessive heat that emanated from her palms and squinted at them critically, then checked the dressings on her arms which were still firmly attached. Neither of them passed comment. There was precious little they could do to remedy that part of the situation.

"How long was I out?" O'Neill asked as he let go of her.

"I'm not sure, sir. They dropped the temperature at least an hour ago, and the lights have been on and off at various intervals. I couldn't keep track of time."

"Anyone been in?"

Carter shook her head, "No, I haven't heard anything or seen anyone since we got here. I had hoped we were still in orbit but I can't be sure now. There is some kind of dampening field in operation. The rest of the ship could be at DEFCON 1 and we wouldn't have the first idea."

"I don't think the Goa'uld have DEFCON, Major," O'Neill said dryly, "But I concur. Escape doesn't seem to be an option at the moment, so the best we can do is sit tight, get our strength back, and be ready for the first opportunity that arises."

The major nodded in agreement, "How's your knee holding up? Do you think you can stand?"

O'Neill probed his leg with his numb fingers and decided the kneecap was where it was supposed to be, with a reasonable amount of inflamation in the area.

"I can run when I need to, at least the cold will reduce the swelling."

Carter hugged her knees to her chest tightly and said nothing.

"What do we know about the Imperial Guard?" O'Neill asked, attempting to rouse Carter from her reverie.

"Not a great deal, sir," she answered, "I remember from Teal'c's briefings that they serve Moloc, but we have never encountered him in person. I would suggest that he is not here. If he were I would expect us to have been granted an audience."

"So what are they going to do with us?" O'Neill pondered aloud, "They either cart us off to his Goa'uldship to face questioning, or they try and get the answers they want out of us here. If they were going to kill is they'd have done it already. But if we haven't engaged him previously how do his minions know we are worthy of capture or that we may have information he is interested in?"

Carter got to her feet and began pacing as she thought through O'Neill's question.

"As you said before, Colonel, our reputation precedes us. We already know that Apophis found out enough about earth to simulate a SGC training camp. Even scraps of information could work their way into the hands of the lesser system lords, and as far as we know we are the only humans venturing through stargates giving the Goa'uld a bloody nose from time to time. Basically we wouldn't be hard to identify. If Moloc has effective spies in his camp, and we have no reason to suppose he wouldn't, then theoretically he should know quite a lot about our presence. He either considers us a threat, or it is possible that he believes we may offer an alliance against the other Goa'uld allowing him the opportunity to usurp power from a greater system lord if he was able to convince us to either, give up tactical information or join his campaign."

"Sweet," O'Neill muttered stretching his legs across the floor, "So when we don't join his party he kills us. Do we have any bargaining chips?"

"I don't think so, sir," Carter stopped pacing, "Our best hope is that General Hammond sends several SG teams after us, or that we provide our own means of escape. Currently I am not even sure where the door is to even attempt it. I don't believe we have even been held in a Goa'uld cell of the design. The walls are smooth, and it's completely circular…" as Carter trailed off he saw the lights flicker on in her eyes in a moment of inspiration.

"Carter?" he coaxed in his best Colonel's voice.

"There are no doors because we were ringed into this room. The only way in or out is through the rings."

O'Neill pulled a face, "You can't be serious? We are stuck here until someone rings us out again?"

Carter shook her head, "Not necessarily. Every ring device we have come across so far has had a control panel. We just have to find it."

"On blank walls?"

Carter nodded, "The device will be secreted somewhere. Of course if we scour the walls and the rings are activated from above…"

"…we will be crushed under them," O'Neill concluded helpfully, "Well I am damned if I am leaning against this wall any longer. I don't want to look like road kill."

The major reached over and helped the colonel to his feet. He stood awkwardly on his damaged knee but made no complaint.

"We are assuming, of course, that there is more than one destination possible through the ring system."

Carter nodded glumly, her eyes already scanning the room for a control panel, "It is possible for one ring device to intercept the path of another, but it requires accuracy and the knowledge of when the device is to be used, and by whom. It's how Teal'c rescued us from Sokar. It is unlikely that anyone will be looking for such a matter stream this time. If we can find the control panel I might be able to decipher it well enough to re-route ourselves somewhere other than where we came from, and I am not sure what happens if we simply try to ring back to the planet and find we aren't in orbit…"

"I'm going to guess that's not going to be pretty, Carter," O'Neill grumbled, his own eyes running up and down the walls for any indication of something that wasn't quite as it seemed.

"It could simply be that it is impossible to ring out if there is nowhere to go," Carter argued, hopefully.

"Find the panel, figure it out," O'Neill ordered.

Working in opposite directions they moved slowly around the room examining every brightly lit pane of crystal for a possible control panel. They had circled the room twice before frustration surfaced and O'Neill softly thudded his forehead against the wall, having momentarily forgotten his injury. Exhaling deeply, his head still leant against the wall, he watched his breath freeze in strange patterns across the surface. Perplexed, he repeated the exhalation a little to the left and saw a different pattern emerge.

"Hey, Carter, take a look at this will you?"

The major crossed from the other side of the cell and stared at the fading pattern. The symbols were familiar, Goa'uld writing, and although her grasp of the language was far short of Daniel's Carter recognised enough of the symbols to feel hopeful. As she exhaled onto the wall another set of symbols appeared, rising up from the surface in response to the heat from their breath.

"This is fascinating," Carter exclaimed, enthused, "The symbols on this wall are actually hidden by the temperature. That's why they have made it so cold in here, so we can't escape. All we need to do is warm up enough of the surface to find controls."

O'Neill pressed his hand to the wall but discovered his skin was too cold to create the same results.

"So we have to huff and puff, and blow the house down?" he joked.

"We can't sustain the patterns long enough to activate them that way," Carter said thoughtfully, "Sir, help me get these dressing off."

"What?" O'Neill's face took on a confused glare.

"The burns on my hands are infected, sir, and that means they are giving off more heat than your skin. It might be enough to activate the control panel."

He paused a moment before nodding his acquiescence. Unwinding the bandages carefully he realised her hands were blistered, swollen and hot. Raw skin shone bright red and serum oozed unpleasantly across the back of both her hands. Her palms and finger tips were smothered with burst blisters and lose skin. O'Neill had seen soldiers face far worse burns and survive without a scar but with Carter he found he had to force himself to remain impassive at the sight. He felt Carter wobble a little as she tried to remain composed, his hand found her elbow and kept her on her feet.

"Easy there, Carter," he said gently, "You get us out of here and Janet will have you patched up in no time."

She nodded, feeling a little nauseous and trying to overcome it.

"It looks worse than it is," Carter managed to sound almost convincing as she straightened herself up and placed her injured hands tentatively on the wall.

O'Neill could tell from her posture that every touch of the wall sent shots of pain through Carter's body. With her back to him he closed his eyes briefly and swallowed his natural response to pull her away and save her from the agony. Inch by inch Carter's plan to unveil the symbols worked until she had managed to locate the required panel.

"This is it, sir," she said stiffly, her now bleeding hands hovering over the symbols required to summon the rings, "I can't re-root the device but I can reactivate it. All I can say is it looks like it is still connected to some other rings, somewhere else."

The colonel simply nodded accepting the risks and doing his best to ignore the bloody prints on the wall, "Let's do this then, Carter."

The major steeled herself and pressed firmly on the control panel before stepping back to stand side by side with her commanding officer as the transportation rings rapidly descended.


	5. Chapter 5

With thanks to my reviewers this is the revised chapter 5. The epilogue will be posted within 24hrs.

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><p>Part 5<p>

Neither Carter nor O'Neill dared to breathe as the rings formed around them. The bright white of the room was replaced by the glare of the transport and equally suddenly by complete blackness. Briefly O'Neill wondered momentarily if they had been deposited in outer space and waited for his eyes to be sucked out of their sockets by the vacuum, before realising his feet were most definitely on something solid.

He breathed in tentatively, tasting the atmosphere. Carter inhaled deeply beside him, he could almost hear her brain ticking over the possibilities for their location. He took a step, cautiously, forward and his toes brushed up against something hard. Stretching out his hands his fingers touched the edge of something smooth and big. A box?

"Ideas, Carter?" he asked very quietly.

"Storage compartment," she replied, "Or somewhere rarely used. Have you ever been on a Goa'ud ship and seen a room without any lights on?"

"Maybe they're doing their bit for global warming," the colonel joked as he moved carefully to his left where he could sense Carter's presence. "At least they have the heating on in here."

An alarm sounded loudly outside the confines of the room and panels in the ceiling illuminated a moment afterwards. They were, indeed, in some kind of storage facility, fifty feet long with crates stacked four tiers high and strange objects, which would normally have fascinated Carter, clipped securely to the walls. A vast door was opening at the far end of the compartment and the sound of approaching jaffa drove O'Neill and Carter to take cover.

Skulking awkwardly between the rows of containers the pair skirted the security detail and edged closer to the door moving in a natural unison. The Imperial Guard stomped further down the storage facility, their staff weapons presented in formation, obviously not ready to fire. Carter frowned deeply and whispered in O'Neill's ear.

"If the alarm isn't for us, what is it for?"

The colonel shrugged, "I don't know, don't care, and don't want to wait around to find out. Let's get the hell out of here."

With the jaffa occupied at the far end of the hold O'Neill and Carter slipped unnoticed into the corridor beyond and hurried down the dangerously open space, ducking into conveniently placed alcoves along the way. A pair of jaffa passed by them fortunately too engrossed in their task to see the Tau'ri prisoners pressed hard against the bulkhead.

"Carter!" O'Neill hissed urgently, "Do you have any idea where we are going?"

She nodded firmly, "Assuming this Ha'tak is of similar construction to others we have encountered I am pretty sure we can find another set of transportation rings in a room down the next corridor. I am hoping there is a terminal in there which will tell us if there is a planet below to transport to."

"Got a Plan B?"

"Actually, sir, no," Carter's face reddened. "This is kinda my only hope right now, unless you can remember how to fly a death glider?"

The colonel considered the option for a moment and pulled a face, "Fly, yes. Launch and land… not so much. Keep rooting for the A game, Major."

They moved as swiftly as the colonel's knee would allow, their luck holding true as the passed from one corridor to another without encountering any jaffa. Half way down the next hallway Carter indicated they open a door. Unarmed and lacking defensive capabilities it was a risk. O'Neill punched the door open and they held their breaths. No-one inside the room called out and O'Neill peered around the corner cautiously to find the transportation room unmanned.

Slipping inside the room the colonel closed the door again behind them and nervously watched Carter review the control panel on the wall.

"And?" he asked impatiently. Their odds of escape were diminishing by the second. Someone had to notice they were missing sooner or later.

"We're still in orbit, but we're not the only ones. That alarm was indication that another Ha'tak has arrived. I don't understand what's happening but I don't think it's one of Moloc's."

"Meaning any minute now there is every chance they are going to start shooting at each other," O'Neill concluded, "Can the rings transport through whatever force-fieldy type thing the mothership is using?"

"I think so, Colonel," Carter tapped the controls until the lights turned a shade of green, "As far as I can tell we are going to ring in somewhere on the planet within a couple of clicks of the stargate. There was a Goa'uld temple on the hillside to the north of the village. It's the most likely location for a secondary set of rings."

O'Neill moved to the centre of the circle illustrated darkly on the highly polished floor. Carter rechecked her calibrations and took a deep breath. A second alarm rang out suddenly, a more insistent sound. Battle stations? Escaped prisoners? The major activated the rings and leapt into the circle just as the rings began to descend. As the second ring fell around them the door to the room opened and a jaffa security patrol charged into the room.

"Jaffa, kree!"

The order came as the third ring settled into position. The band of jaffa drew themselves into formation, surrounding the rings with their staff weapons drawn. The commander strode to the transportation control panel and punched it, but the sequence was already engaged and the fourth ring locked into position. O'Neill could not help but wave a childish goodbye as the fifth ring swung down and they were transported off the Ha'tak and back to the planet's surface.

They had barely materialised in the temple before O'Neill and Carter were running for the door. They lumbered along, making a break for cover in the thin line of trees that led down to the edge of the ruined village. The night sky provided a natural advantage giving them enough darkness in which to move more easily but enough moonlight to light their way.

In the temple behind them the distinctive sound of the transportation rings filled the air. The Colonel looked over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of two jaffa running out of the temple door and directly towards the stargate. A few moments later the rings echoed again and another group of jaffa began tracking their escaped prisoners' movements.

All around them the remains of the burnt village creaked and groaned in the wind. Scrambling between the scorched timbers and ducking into treacherous doorways they found themselves behind the market place, Shana's body still lying in the middle of the street.

"My kit bag," Carter pointed to a dark bag lying under the edge of a fallen but unburnt roof timber, "There's C4 in it."

O'Neill grabbed the pack as they passed, his hands deftly finding the C4 and a detonator. The jaffa behind them were gaining ground rapidly, their shouts and staff weapon blasts growing dangerously near. Pausing for a moment O'Neill hit the ground and shoved the detonator into the C4, setting the timer for just 15 seconds. Starting it off he attempted to jump to his feet, his knee complained and collapsed beneath him. By his side, Carter hauled him upright and with his hand at her elbow and her arm around his waist they staggered on.

The C4 blast behind them destroyed half the pursuing jaffa brigade and threw the others to the floor, their shouts abruptly halted and the staff weapons silenced. Ahead, two jaffa stood between them and the DHD, staff weapons trained on their targets. Out of options O'Neill flung Carter's kit bag at one of them catching him off guard. The colonel seized the advantage, grabbing the staff weapon and discharging it at the second jaffa before using the other end to render the first guard unconscious.

"Sir, we don't have a GDO," Carter shouted as the recovering jaffa behind them began to fire again.

"I know that, Carter," O'Neill yelled back, "Dial Tollana, you remember the sequence, right?"

Carter dialled as swiftly as she was able listening all the time to the approach of more of the Imperial Guard. A staff blast hit the ground beside her as she pressed the activation button. She rolled clear, landing by O'Neill's side a few feet from the stargate pulling him to the floor in the process.

The event horizon exploded behind them pouring blue light into the darkness. The jaffa, momentarily blinded, fired indiscriminately at the stargate, staff blasts sending columns of smoke and soil into the air.

Through the debris O'Neill sighted a jaffa aiming his staff weapon directly at their position. Lying, sniper pose, in the dirt he loosed a single staff blast at the man, the impact blasting him back ten paces.

Carter was already on her feet, her hands gripping the colonel's arm, dragging him into a run. Stumbling desperately towards safety she felt the impact of a staff blast on their backs as they threw themselves headlong into the wormhole.


	6. Epilogue

Epilogue

The last staff blast had hit the ground directly behind them giving additional momentum to their dive through the stargate. Hitting the ground hard on the other side other wormhole, all the air was shunted out of their lungs leaving them gasping like fish on dry land. O'Neill recovered first, rolling onto his side and crawling over to Carter who was still fighting to catch her breath.

"You okay, Major," he asked, visually checking her for new injuries.

Carter nodded and dragged herself to her knees, fighting the coughing fit her lungs seemed determined to continue. Conscious of the urgency of the situation the major refused to allow her injured body to give up quite yet.

"Stay there, sir," she gasped, "I have to dial us out of here."

Looking around the colonel observed the desolate world on which he was currently sat and realised, belatedly, they were not on Tollana as he had expected.

"Carter… where the hell are we, and where the hell are you dialling next?"

Breathing, walking and talking were not a combination of actions she felt currently capable of. On her feet she paused over him for a second to reply, "This is P3X-243, sir."

"I distinctly remember mentioning something about Tollana, Major."

Beside the DHD Carter hesitated for a second, her tired brain taking a fraction longer to deliver the dialling sequence to her throbbing hands. She punched in combination with the side of her fist, the only part of her extremity that didn't pulsate in pain with every heart beat.

"I couldn't risk the Tollan having security measures to prevent unexpected travellers," she said in between forcing uncomfortable breaths into her body, "I decided to use the safe house on P4X-234 as our gateway home, but dialled here first in case the co-ordinates were made by the jaffa."

O'Neill ducked as the event horizon opened behind him. Struggling to his feet he joined Carter at the wormhole's threshold acutely aware that this needed to be the last bit of walking he did for about a fortnight.

"Good thinking, Major," he said as they stepped through the wormhole again.

P4X-234 was much as O'Neill remembered, but then it was only a few months since SG-1 had spent a week there, cooped up in the emergency shelter they had built for themselves under the trees just a little way from where they now stood.

As the stargate deactivated behind them O'Neill heard Carter suck in a breath that caught in her throat, and he felt the same emotional adrenalin almost take his own legs from him. Carter hung her head momentarily, regaining the composure she had almost lost, and felt O'Neill's had resting reassuringly on her back. Lifting her chin she looked up into his eyes and, seeing the same exhausted relief breaking within him, placed her own hand supportively on his shoulder. No matter how much the action hurt she knew that for just one moment they both needed the contact.

They held the moment; a shared interlude of understanding in the solitude of a distant world, where they saw nothing but each other and heard no more than the hammering of their own hearts. O'Neill broke the silence first, unhappily forcing them back into their professional personas, knowing that there was no other viable option.

"So," he said quietly, "You know I don't really read all those reports… what's with the safe house thing?"

Carter gathered her emotions back into their designated boxes and smiled, knowing the colonel was playing the inattentive fool he used to deflect difficult moments. "There's a MALP camouflaged in the tree line over there, sir, with an emergency broadcast GDO. All we need to do is get it, dial home, and send the IDC. General Hammond will have and SG unit back here by return dial."

"Sweet," O'Neill said simply, "Thirty minutes to a hot shower."

"Yes, sir," she replied with a grin, "And twenty-five minutes 'til we get the third degree from Janet about the state we are coming home in this time."

O'Neill just smiled. "At least we are going home Carter. At least we are going home."

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><p><em>AN: It is with much thanks to my reviewers that I have re-worked the last part of this story. I agree it felt unfinished, but not that they needed to discuss their relationship. I am the type of writer who likes to keep stories in line with the main story arc of the show and as it is set prior to S4E05 (Divide and Conquer) in my mind they have nothing more than the odd touching moment, and everything returns to the status quo. I hope you will find the new ending more satisfying despite the lack of shipping._

_CG_


End file.
